Hurricane Helene challenged Baxter’s North Cove operations, but rapid recovery efforts, technological investments, and community-focused support ensured critical medications continued reaching patients nationwide.
When Hurricane Helene struck Western Carolina last fall, Baxter’s North Cove facility found itself at the mercy of rising waters and chaos. On September 27, the last day of Baxter’s fiscal third quarter, the storm’s threat was monitored hour by hour. By midday, conditions seemed manageable, but by late afternoon, communication lapses signaled trouble. A breach in the plant’s levy quickly became apparent, prompting immediate action. The first priority was to evacuate the 25 employees still on site. Safety came first, even as the plant braced for unprecedented damage.
By the next morning, Baxter’s local team and plant manager returned to assess the situation. Three feet of water and mud had inundated the facility, a controlled environment now left in disarray. Cecilia Soriano, president of Baxter’s global Infusion Therapies and Technologies division, said the damage was extensive.
“Until you physically see it, it’s hard to comprehend,” she recalled. Hallways once filled with order and routine were unrecognizable. Industrial lights illuminated a surreal scene of fallen pallets, scattered cases, and debris, all against the backdrop of pitch-black, powerless corridors.
The emotional toll on the team was evident, and the broader implications for the U.S. healthcare supply chain loomed large. In North Cove, the path from evacuation to recovery would test resilience, leadership, and the company’s ability to deliver to the people and patients who rely on its products.
Recovery process
Recovering from Hurricane Helene was a monumental task. For Baxter in North Cove, the process began by focusing on three critical areas: employees, customers, and operations. Soriano recalls that the human element was foremost on her mind as she drove through the impacted area in the immediate aftermath. Many employees had lost homes, possessions, and access to basic necessities, yet some still reported to the plant because it was the only familiar place left. “People who had lost everything were coming to the plant because they had nowhere to go,” Soriano said.
Baxter acted quickly, setting up an employee resource center just a few miles from the North Cove facility. The center became a lifeline, providing essentials like food, water, toiletries, showers, and mobile cots. Generators kept the lights on, washers and dryers offered some semblance of normalcy, and even chainsaws were available to help employees clear debris from their homes.
The company’s rapid mobilization extended beyond its workforce. As the largest private employer in the area, Baxter recognized its responsibility to the broader community. The resource center was not just a hub for employees – it was one of the first relief points in the community, signaling Baxter’s commitment to supporting everyone affected by the hurricane.
Customer communication was another immediate priority. By Saturday afternoon – just one day after the storm – the company had briefed federal authorities on the evolving situation at North Cove. Calls to customers followed quickly, with the goal of providing transparent, consistent updates about the plant’s status and potential impacts on supply. Soriano notes that feedback on this communication approach was overwhelmingly positive. “It was very transparent, it was consistent, it was posted on one site,” she said, emphasizing that the effort extended globally, as Baxter coordinated the flow of products imported from overseas to meet U.S. patient needs.
Operational recovery was equally urgent and complex. Baxter assembled a task force of the “best of the best” from across the company, combining the expertise of the North Cove team with advanced engineering support from Switzerland and other global sites. The work was meticulous and labor-intensive: remediating equipment down to the level of Q-tips and toothbrushes, carefully rebuilding thousands of wires, and methodically restoring production lines. Yet the team’s efforts paid off. Within about four weeks, Baxter had restarted its highest-throughput IV manufacturing line, a line responsible for producing 50% of the site’s one-liter IV solutions, the most commonly used size by hospitals and clinics. Soriano emphasized that meeting every milestone communicated to customers was critical, noting the ripple effects throughout the healthcare industry when products like IV bags were on a shortage. The mission-driven culture of the North Cove team became a powerful motivator, as employees understood that their work directly affected patients and healthcare providers nationwide.
Investments in resilience
The recovery from Hurricane Helene underscored the critical importance of preparedness, technology, and collaboration in safeguarding Baxter’s operations and the broader healthcare supply chain. Soriano highlighted the investments and strategies that proved invaluable in the immediate aftermath of the storm. From the very first hours, communication was paramount. With electricity and traditional telecommunications down across North Cove, satellite phones and Starlink internet connections became essential lifelines. “The first phone calls that came in were on Starlink,” Soriano said. These tools allowed Baxter’s leadership to maintain contact with the plant, coordinate with federal authorities, and manage the distribution of resources in real time, even when local infrastructure had failed.
Technology was not just a communications tool; it also underpinned the company’s ability to understand and manage its supply chain under extraordinary circumstances. Rapid response platforms, integrated data systems, and a centralized “single source of truth” provided visibility into inventory levels, production capacities, and product location across Baxter’s global network. This meant that even as bridges were impassable and the plant itself was flooded, leadership knew what inventory had been safeguarded at higher ground, what remained at risk, and how to move critical supplies to where they were needed most. It also allowed for proactive problem-solving: shipments could be prioritized, customs fast-tracked, and logistics coordinated around the holiday season, when U.S. ports and airlines were already under heavy demand.
Customer-facing investments also proved crucial. Two to three years prior, Baxter had implemented portals that allowed customers to view orders, inventory, and estimated delivery dates. During the Helene crisis, this transparency allowed healthcare providers to plan patient care around disruptions, ensuring critical therapies continued despite widespread logistical challenges. “There were multiple inputs into a customer portal so they could plan patient care accordingly,” Soriano said, underscoring the value of preemptive investments in technology.
Yet Baxter’s recovery extended beyond technology and internal coordination; collaboration across the industry played a pivotal role. Prior to the crisis, Baxter had partnered with Medline, a leading U.S. distributor, to streamline product movement. Using Medline’s backhaul program, Baxter bypassed some of its distribution centers in the months following the hurricane, moving supplies directly from ports to Medline’s network and ultimately to healthcare providers more efficiently. Similar support came from large healthcare systems that helped “push” Baxter’s product volume through third-party logistics at different points in time.
Following the hurricane, Baxter sought additional ways to bolster its supply resiliency. In July, Baxter and group purchasing organization Vizient announced the expansion of Vizient’s supply assurance program to include IV fluids. Through this program, participating customers receive access to dedicated, on-demand safety stock managed by Baxter.
Baxter also continued to pressure testing its processes and supply chain maturity. Already a member of Healthcare Industry Resiliency Collaborative (HIRC), a non-profit consortium of healthcare providers, suppliers, and industry partners with a focus of improving the healthcare supply chain, Baxter engaged HIRC to conduct an external assessment of its supply chain maturity. Baxter was awarded a gold-level resiliency badge in September, the first manufacturer in IV and clinical nutrition solutions and premix drug categories to receive this recognition.
Preparing for tomorrow
Looking beyond the immediate response, Baxter’s long-term supply chain strategy emphasizes visibility, resilience, and proactive risk management. Soriano highlighted the company’s philosophy of “buy where you make, make where you sell,” which guides decisions about sourcing raw materials and managing production globally. By mapping the supply chain several levels deep, Baxter aims to anticipate disruptions from extreme weather, geopolitical risk, or other crises.
Investments in technology and AI enable end-to-end visibility across nearly 40 global production sites, from inbound materials to quality assurance to final delivery. However, she acknowledges an ongoing challenge: once products leave Baxter’s direct control – on a truck, with a distributor, or in transit to a hospital – they are largely invisible. Closing that blind spot is a priority for future investments in tracking technology and supply chain analytics, ensuring critical medications can be monitored until they reach patients.
Soriano emphasized that lessons from previous disruptions informed Baxter’s approach. After Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, the company implemented infrastructure and technology that proved invaluable during Helene. Similarly, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of transparency, communication, and inventory management across multiple stakeholders.
“We learned that for critical drugs and medicines, you need to see the product in real time, even once it leaves your facility,” she said.
Baxter is exploring technologies to monitor shipments at every step, bridging the gap between production and final delivery and ensuring that healthcare providers never experience unexpected shortages.
Hurricane Helene also reinforced the value of preparedness beyond the plant floor. Emergency generators, backup communications, and rapid response protocols allowed Baxter to respond quickly even in a blackout. Satellite connectivity enabled leadership to coordinate the recovery effort despite widespread infrastructure failures. Investments in these systems, combined with a culture of resilience, allowed Baxter to not only restore operations but also provide timely and transparent updates to government agencies, distributors, and healthcare providers.
The Helene response demonstrates that resilience involves a combination of people, planning, technology, and collaboration. Baxter’s ability to respond quickly, communicate transparently, and coordinate across stakeholders ensured continuity of critical medications while protecting employees and supporting the wider community. Soriano emphasizes that these lessons will continue to shape Baxter’s strategy. From monitoring global supply networks to investing in AI-driven visibility tools, from strengthening local infrastructure to deepening partnerships with distributors and healthcare providers, the company is committed to staying ahead of future disruptions.
The human impact
While restoring plant operations and the national supply chain was a monumental undertaking, the human and community impact of Hurricane Helene remained at the forefront of Baxter’s recovery efforts. Soriano reflects that a year later, North Cove is still healing. Many employees lost not only their homes and possessions but also family members, leaving deep emotional scars in this multi-generational community where several family members often worked at the plant. “It took us over three weeks to locate all of our employees,” Soriano said. The weeks-long uncertainty compounded the trauma, underscoring the personal stakes behind every recovery decision.
Baxter invested more than $4 million to aid employees and the communities impacted by Hurricane Helene, while the employee resource center continued to provide ongoing support for housing, material needs, and other hardships. Company leadership, including HR and plant managers, remained actively involved in identifying employees in need, ensuring the organization could provide resources and assistance where it mattered most. Even months after the hurricane, the signs of disruption were evident: in December and January, some employees were still sleeping in tents on their property, a stark reminder that recovery is a long-term process.
Soriano emphasizes that the company’s response to the human impact of Helene is inseparable from its operational efforts. Supporting employees and the broader community has been a priority and a hallmark of Baxter’s crisis response, demonstrating a holistic approach to disaster recovery that extends beyond production lines to the people who make the work possible. She also extends gratitude to Baxter’s customers, whose patience and collaboration during the crisis were essential in maintaining continuity of care for patients nationwide. Looking ahead, Baxter is committed to sharing lessons learned with other companies and the wider industry.
“I don’t ever want to say we have a playbook for this, but we have a lot of lessons learned,” Soriano said. “And a lot of things went right in the process. If we could shortcut that time for others before they’re in the middle of a crisis, we’d be happy to take time to speak with them.”